Other Turtle Discussion :: you should need a permit to own a turtle!!! seriously!!!

[the_littlest_weasley]

OMG! Seriously, it should be required by law to need a permit in order to own a turtle. GRR!!!

as some of you know I work at my local, privately owned pet store. now we don't sell reptiles but we do sell the supplies so we get a lot of turtle people in.
there are a few people who really know what they are doing and I’m very thankful for that. HOWEVER, more often than not we get people in who have no idea what the heck they are doing and it really worries me.

like for instance, just today 2 different people wanted to buy a 2 1/4 gallon plastic fish tank for their 3 to 4in. RES.
I was ready to kill them!!! are they serious??? the one woman asked why it wasn't eating. and I asked her how much water was in the tank, and she said about in inch or so! OMG! then I ask what she thought the temp. was and she said she had no clue!! then when I showed her the type of thank she'd need and told her about the filter and heater and heat lamp and dock she'd need, and then she has the audacity to ask me if all that's really important because she just spent a ton of money on her little dog and didn't feel like spending that kind of money. so I give her the number of our local turtle rescue and sent her on her way.

seriously! what are these people thinking?!?!


so I think that in order of one to own a turtle you must be given a rigorous test to prove that you can handle the responsibility of it. and then you must obtain a permit to own one! anyone with me?

sorry about the long post just felt the need to rant to people who understand where I'm coming from.


oh and if you want to see the "tank" these people were trying to buy it's
http://www.petdiscounters.com/c246/Curved-Small-Pals-Tank-Large-p2232.html

[Starchick]

Ugh. I have that tank, and it's ridiculously small. I just throw a towel in there and use it for transporting Napoleon, but to expect a turtle to live in there? A 4 inch RES would have a hard time even turning around. Giving out the turtle rescue number is a good idea. It definitely should be required that in order to buy a turtle you need to at least be provided some kind of care sheet, I think a lot of people are clueless that turtles have more special needs than something like a goldfish.

[Evelyn]

Hi,
In my younger years I would have loved to own a pet shop.
I thought very hard about it and knew in my own heart I would be able to sell pets to people. Just going in the shops and buying mine own supplies the other costumers here make me upset.
One pet shop near me has a heart for the turtles , he always takes turtles that people don't want any more. The turtle are big, one time I think he had about 30. Of course he sells thems, it takes a long time. Big turtle are not cute and they are alot more work then the babies.
I adopted a dog from rescue group and boy is that hard to do and don't blame them for doing that to people.
Evelyn

[jenaero]

It'd be nice if they could regulate such things but I fear it will never happen. If people don't need to prove their responsibility before having human children, they'll never have to before having pets.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Wow that pisses me off,i swear,turtles are probably the most abused animals in the world.

[the_littlest_weasley]

the problem is education. i'm not saying that people are stupid (although in most cases that's true) but that people just haven't been taught how to properly take care of animals.

i'm considering setting up some kind of program where i can go to different school and educate students how to take care of turtles and rabbits. because i've noticed that they are both some of the most abused animals. and plus i know a lot about both and because i have so many. (5 rabbits, 4 RES) i just don't know how i would go about doing something like that.
i guess for now i'll just have to stick to teaching the people that come into the store i work at.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Not trying to put you down or anything,but teaching little kids about animals like turtles and rabbits isnt going to work well .

Its going to make the kids want turtles,they are going to go home telling their parents "mom i want a turtle,can i get one!?" And of course the parents are going to think "well its just a little itty bitty turtle,shouldnt be hard to take care of" and once they finnally buy it,the kids going to go "oh well the lady at school told me they need a water heater and filter,and the parents of course arent going to pay attention and think it will dwell fine,because they had one back in the day and it lived OK for a couple of months in a small bowl.

I admire you for even thinking of trying to help,but i think we just have to accept the reality.People dont care,turtles arent cute and cuddly and there cheap,so if it gets sick,why a vet? Why not buy another one.Its tottally messed up,but its how things go.I stay away from ANY pet store that carries reptiles,because i know if i would walk in their and see the poor conditions their in,ill probably beat the living heck out of the store owner.Humane society isnt much help,though they did bust a store that sold RES (i ratted them out) once.It took like 2 weeks just for them to go to the store,i dont like the humane society.I feel (in my opinion) they care more about dogs and cats than exotic animals.It shouldnt be like that .

[pumpkinsherbet]

pardon me for playing devil's advocate, but not everyone has the internet, thus the whole world at their finger tips, and not everyone is given an adequate care sheet. a lot of people are told that turtles are low-maintenance inexpensive pets, they stay small, etc. and they don't have the proper resources to do the full research.

it is, however, your duty as the pet store to employee to help them find easier and more readily available research material, and let them know that what they are looking for is inadequate, and show them what it is they need.

so basically you're annoyed at them because they are ignorant, so educate them.

[Pizza]

Well here in my province, it's odd because in all of Canada, only my province is it against the law to sell aquatic turtles for profit, so generally, you won't find any at all in pet shops and turtle keepers in my city, regardless its booming population size, turtle keepers are quite low. You can however own them for private keep. This is probably an old law made half a century ago that no one cares about anymore but are too lazy to change,

When I got my turtles, I had to look in the ads and online everyday for about 2.5-3 months until I found someone giving theirs up, I found two other ads for free turtles before, but because of the rarity and high demand for aquatic turtles, they were snatched up within an hour of the post, even on a weekday,

Strangely enough, the rule only applies to aquatic species, tortoises or terrestrial turtles/terrapins can be found for sale in shops such as Sulcatas and Box Turtles.

The chances of getting a hatchling here are slim to none, unless you drive a few up from south of the border or take a 15 hour drive to Vancouver or such,

Although my turtles are all seasoned adults (all 10+ years old), I still find them as cute as hatchlings.

[turtle_nz]

Wow that pisses me off,i swear,turtles are probably the most abused animals in the world.

turtles seem to get a bad deal from what you guys say, but cats and dogs are the worst ones for abuse here. people pouring boiling water over kittens to see what would happen, things like that.. tieing bricks to puppys and throwing them over bridges.

some people should just be put to sleep

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Pouring boiling water on cats? Throwing dogs off bridges? What in the world is going on...

[turtle_nz]

yeah i makes me sick thinking about things like that, I couldn't imagine doing something like that to my pets

at least there are alot of people out there who really do care for their animals.

[Jayqualin]

Animals should be respected but nowdays, people treat them as if they're trash- That is, sick, horrible, discusting, and stupid people! I feel so sorry for them.

[Gracie8899]

The other day I walked into a (local owned) pet store - I had not been in before - right away I was pissed-the fish tanks were in horrible condition - not to mention they had 3 tanks of turtles -none were set up right - not to mention in the hatchlings tank there was about 2 inches of water for 25 of them and 6-10 had terrible eye fungus- and 6 were dead - I thought I was going to throw up - I found the guy right away and started in on the condition of the tanks and what they needed to do - needless to say I had to walk out with two new turts (coke & sprite) they looked at me like they were begging to go home with me. - I wish there were more regulations and you could report places like that - Man I was so so mad at that store!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

The other day I walked into a (local owned) pet store - I had not been in before - right away I was pissed-the fish tanks were in horrible condition - not to mention they had 3 tanks of turtles -none were set up right - not to mention in the hatchlings tank there was about 2 inches of water for 25 of them and 6-10 had terrible eye fungus- and 6 were dead - I thought I was going to throw up - I found the guy right away and started in on the condition of the tanks and what they needed to do - needless to say I had to walk out with two new turts (coke & sprite) they looked at me like they were begging to go home with me. - I wish there were more regulations and you could report places like that - Man I was so so mad at that store!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although your heart was in the right place it is not a good idea to "rescue" turtles from bad pet shops .By buying those turtles you are supporting that pet shop,you are giving them money to buy more turtles,making the cycle go on and on.

Of course we dont want that! We want the cycle to stop,its not going to if we keep buying turtles from bad pet shops.We all have to hold ourselves back from buying turtles from places like that.We as turtle lovers have to stop to this,or atleast try.

If you happen to walk into a pet shop with a couple of adult RES in a small 10 gallon tank with 1 inch of water and a brick as a basking area,yet no basking lights! Dont freak out and buy them all,because the pet store people are going to think "Hmm,these turtles sell good! Lets order some more" Instead,talk to the manager or someone of higher position,tell them you own turtles,lie to them and tell them your dad is a turtle biologist,or even better tell them your husband or wife works for the humane society,scare them,but dont curse or hit them because that will land you in jail ! If it works then yay!,if not,go to the authorities,tell them whats going on,if they dont listen to you,bother them until they do something about it.

Thats all we can do... .